Hiraeth -- Eleceed FF

Chapter 5

"I'm going down to the village tomorrow," Nathalia told Cain one afternoon, when he had been almost a year in exile. "Do you want to come along? It'll be safer for us if we stick together."

Cain was clearing burrs from Lancelot's fur. "Yes," he replied, then turned his attention back to the panther. "You need to stop going into the weed patches, or I won't let you out to hunt anymore." He turned back to Nathalia. "Lancelot can come with us, can't he?"

Nathalia blinked. "It would... invite questions."

"He goes everywhere with me."

"Don't you have secondary powers?"

"Yes, but he wouldn't like it." He exhaled something that was very close to a laugh at the childishness of that statement. "We were separated for a while; I think he's still a bit insecure about that. It's also why he can be a bit... aggressive towards you. I think he's jealous."

Nathalia shrugged. "Fine; he can come along, but I assume that means you will, too."

"Yes, I will."

-

They set out early the next morning, and Cain followed Nathalia in the direction of the river, arriving at the outskirts of a small village around midmorning. "I wanted to see if a reply to my letter arrived. But I also buy rice and salt, for preserving meat, here."

"Who are you sending letters to, from here? Anyway, I thought you wanted to stay hidden."

"I keep in touch with the Eresbys. Only they know I'm here." Nathalia walked forward a few paces, and then something seemed to cross her mind. She turned around to look at Cain and Lancelot beside him. "We can't take him into the village. But you can stay here with him, I suppose."

Cain didn't say anything; he was looking beyond her, where a familiar figure was coming up the incline towards them. Nathalia turned around in confusion.

"Seth?" Cain said. This was the last place he'd have thought to find his cousin. But it could only be him, and the jackal walking beside him confirmed that. It bared its teeth in a snarl.

His cousin was older than him by five years, and experienced in combat, but far lower in the line of succession. Cain had always thought Seth resented him for that; he had certainly found it amusing when Cain had lost Lancelot. His jackal was no ordinary jackal, but far more resistant to damage than a normal animal, though not Awakened as Lancelot was. Lancelot hissed at it, and it snapped back.

"You must have done something really bad this time, Cain." Seth's tone was gentle, almost patronising. "Kariss is angry. I've never seen her want somebody dead so badly before." He tilted his head. "You got Lancelot back. I imagine it mustn't have been with her sanction. But of course! You wouldn't be hiding here otherwise."

Cain started to say something, but Seth spoke again before the words came out. He was looking at Nathalia. "You're an Awakener too, aren't you?"

"What makes you–"

"It can't have been easy for my cousin to explain the panther without giving away too much. Anyway, you should leave now; I'd hate for you to become collateral damage."

Nathalia frowned. "No," she said; "I asked him to come down with me. It would be wrong to leave him to you."

Cain stared at her incredulously. "Are you mad, Nathalia?"

"Perhaps, but not selfish."

The resulting silence was broken by Seth. "I'll deal with you first, I suppose. As a warm-up." Without warning, the jackal launched itself at Nathalia, faster than the eye could follow. There was a blur, and Nathalia stumbled backwards onto the ground.

Cain inhaled sharply, and used his mind control on impulse. It caught Seth unprepared; it was almost comically easy to take. I need to figure out how to take him out while buying Nathalia time to escape. Why did she have to involve herself? Where's Lancelot when you need him? Through his cousin's mind, he forced the jackal to stand still.

"Nathalia, are you alright?" he asked, standing concentration-still. "You should have run. But now we need to figure out what to do with him."

Nathalia turned her head towards him as she stood up, a long red scratch visible on her collarbone. Cain could see her breathing heavily. She gave him a thin smile, and raised her hand.

For a moment, nothing happened, though Cain noticed his cousin's eyes widening. He looked back at Nathalia, who at that moment jerked her hand backwards; water swelled towards her to hover just above her palm. His gaze went back to his cousin.

With a thrill of fear, he saw Seth fall to his knees. His boot slipped off, revealing a skeletal foot. Before he could look away, a translucent flake of shrivelled skin came off, revealing crumbling red-black material clotted solid nestled between off-white bones. He looked back at Nathalia and at the water she now had under thrall. The connection made itself.

A wave of horror filled him, and he retched, loosening his hold on his cousin's mind. Seth let out a gasp of pain, but acted fast, calling the jackal to listen to him, and the jackal immediately launched itself at Nathalia. Cain looked up in time, and let out a cry, but then Lancelot was there, taking the force of the jackal's attack in Nathalia's stead and driving it back. The panther met Cain's eye for a moment, as if to ask a reason for his inaction.

Cain straightened up, and reached out for his cousin's mind again, but this time Seth was prepared, and it was harder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nathalia jerk back her hand again, and then Seth's arm withered, and Nathalia sent a pressurised jet of the water that came to her at the jackal, leaving a gash on its haunch. The jackal staggered, and at the same time Cain managed to wrest back his control over Seth's mind.

Seth's jackal stopped in its tracks again. Cain's gaze fell to his cousin's hand, now parched and lifeless, and something gave in him. She can't finish him off like this. It would be... The thought went unfinished.

But Lancelot had sensed Cain's intention and now leapt at Seth, his jaws closing around his neck. The jackal made no move; Cain managed to keep his hold on his cousin's mind, and felt the spike of fear in him. End it, Lancelot. Before she–

Lancelot jerked his head, and the man's neck snapped. He convulsed briefly, then dropped to the ground when Lancelot let go. Water was still rising from his body, though Nathalia's hands had dropped to her sides.

"You can do that?" Cain asked, stepping away from Nathalia, his gaze fixed on the shrivelled lower half of his cousin's body, eyes darting to the water that was fast seeping into the soil.

"Yes." She grimaced and walked towards him; Cain put out a hand, and she stopped there. "I was taught when I was thirteen." Nathalia raised her eyes to look at him. "But why are you upset? He was trying to kill you." A scream, and then a crunch, caught their attention. They turned around; Lancelot had torn out the jackal's throat. He came over and pushed his head under Cain's hand; Cain could feel something damp and sticky on the fur. He turned his attention back on Nathalia.

"I didn't know you could– I mean..." That was ghastly, horrifying... I've seen skin melting from burns, people flaying others with their power, but nothing like that– I've made an alliance with a monster. Cain swallowed. "Your power's very destructive. I'm– I'm glad you don't use it more often, but thank you, really, for saving me."

"It does take a toll," Nathalia said. "We need to move his body."

You're thinking of that so soon? He was my cousin. I knew him, you know. But that was unfair, he knew; she'd seen her family killed and her house destroyed. I ought to stop blaming her for what she had to do. "I'll get Lancelot to help," he said softly.

Nathalia was quiet. Cain made eye contact with Lancelot, nodded at the corpse, and Lancelot picked it up by the neck. When they started moving off, Nathalia spoke again. "I'm sorry that had to happen. Exile... it does things to you. It numbs your conscience, your sense of horror. You learn that right and wrong are more flexible than you previously thought."